UCS Learning Materials Repository: Why, what, where …

I am hoping the following will give a broad overview and introduction to a proof of concept project of a Learning Materials Repository at UCS which we (Elevate Team) have built and piloted. The aim of this to give a heads up to a number of people at UCS as repositories for a range of activities are back on the agenda.

So, what is the UCS LTM OER?

It is a pilot / proof of concept with Radiography to develop a repository which followed the principles of an Open Educational Repository for course team members to share resources with each other and between a number of different VLE courses. The proof of concept service is accessible from: http://a.ucs.ac.uk/oer

What does it do?

It allows a person (authenticated via internal database but this could be UCS authenticated) to submit a file (or web link) with lots of rich metadata (via a template) to a repository. The file does not have to be held within this repository, the submission can also be associated with other submissions to allow people to create a collection.

Before the material (submission) is released onto the repository, there is a manual check by the OER Manager to ensure all appropriate information is complete.

The end user can access this resource via a number of routes, including tags (key terms), subject groups (pre-determined) and/or free text. There is also the facility for people to rate and/or leave comments against the submitted file.

Where next for the UCS LTM OER?

We’ll we’ve achieved the first stage. It works, we’ve discussed and had buy in from the Head of Library about their role as the OER Manager, we’ve followed current best practice around creating a repository and we are now sharing the link to help inform discussions at UCS around our institutional needs for a repository. So, we aren’t promoting this as the solution, however, its use may help UCS get started with relatively little up front cost.

Interestingly, there is little need from Radiography staff as there needs to be more discussion around the culture and requirements of sharing.